The Three Musketeers (1973 film)
Encyclopedia
The Three Musketeers is a 1973 film based on the novel
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...

 by Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...

. It was directed by Richard Lester
Richard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...

 and written by George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser, OBE was an English-born author of Scottish descent, who wrote both historical novels and non-fiction books, as well as several screenplays.-Early life and military career:...

 (famous for his Flashman series of historical comic novels). It was originally proposed in the 1960s as a vehicle for The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, whom Lester had directed in two other films. It was intended to run for three hours, but later it was split into two, the second part becoming 1974
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...

's The Four Musketeers
The Four Musketeers (film)
The Four Musketeers is a 1974 Richard Lester film that follows upon his film of the year before, The Three Musketeers, and covers the second half of Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers...

. In 1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

, the cast and crew returned to film The Return of the Musketeers
The Return of the Musketeers
The Return of the Musketeers is a 1989 film adaptation loosely based on the novel Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is the third Musketeers film directed by Richard Lester, following 1973's The Three Musketeers and 1974's The Four Musketeers...

, loosely based on Dumas' Twenty Years After
Twenty Years After
Twenty Years After is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père, first serialized from January to August, 1845. A book of the D'Artagnan Romances, it is a sequel to The Three Musketeers and precedes The Vicomte de Bragelonne .The novel follows events in France during La Fronde, during the childhood reign...

.

The film adheres closely to the novel, but it also injects a fair amount of humour. It was shot by David Watkins, with an eye for period detail. The fight scenes were choreographed by master swordsman William Hobbs
William Hobbs (choreographer)
William Hobbs is a choreographer of staged fights. He has arranged some of the most notable scenes of cinematic fencing from the 1960s to the 2000s, including those in:* H.M.S...

 and turn the swashbuckling movies of the Forties and Fifties on their collective ear; these are more like brawls, with the combatants using knees, fists, furniture and even wet laundry as often as they do their swords. The humor also can swing to the bawdy, with some double entendres and a bit of silliness that takes full advantage of Raquel Welch's (as Constance Bonacieux) charms, for instance.

Plot

The young d'Artagnan
D'Artagnan
Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of...

 arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a king's musketeer. Quite unused to the city life, he makes a number of silly faux-pas. He comes into conflict with three musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, each of whom challenges him to a duel for some insult or embarrassment. Later, D'Artagnan helps them to defend themselves from Cardinal Richelieu's guards headed by Jussac, who arrive during the duel. He is invited to join them in their efforts to oppose the Cardinal, who wishes to increase his already considerable power over the king. D'Artagnan also begins an affair with his landlord's wife, Constance Bonancieux, who is a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.

Meanwhile the Duke of Buckingham, former lover of the Queen, turns up and asks for something in remembrance of her; she gives him her diamond necklace. The Cardinal learns of the incident and suggests to the none-too-bright King to throw a ball in his wife's honor, and request she wear the diamonds he gave her. The Cardinal also sends Milady de Winter to England to steal the necklace. She seduces the Duke and steals two of the necklace's diamonds. Meanwhile, the Queen has confided her troubles in Constance, who asks d'Artagnan to ride to England and get back the diamonds. D'Artagnan and the three musketeers set out, but encounter the Cardinal's men on the way. Only d'Artagnan and his man make it through to Buckingham, where they discover the loss of two of the diamond studs. The Duke replaces the two studs and d'Artagnan races back to Paris to deliver the necklace and save the Queen from embarrassment. He encounters Porthos, Athos, and Aramis on his way; they are wounded but not dead as d'Artagnan had feared.

The film ends with d'Artagnon being made a musketeer for his services to the crown.

Cast

  • Michael York
    Michael York (actor)
    Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...

     as d'Artagnan
    D'Artagnan
    Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of...

  • Oliver Reed
    Oliver Reed
    Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...

     as Athos
    Athos (fictional character)
    Olivier d'Athos de la Fère, Comte de la Fère is a fictional character, a Musketeer of the Guard in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père....

  • Frank Finlay
    Frank Finlay
    Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...

     as Porthos
    Porthos
    Porthos, Baron du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père. He and the other two musketeers Athos and Aramis are friends of the novel's protagonist, d'Artagnan...

     / O'Reilly
  • Richard Chamberlain as Aramis
    Aramis
    C. René d'Aramis de Vannes is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père...

  • Jean-Pierre Cassel
    Jean-Pierre Cassel
    Jean-Pierre Cassel was a French actor.-Life and career:Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, the son of Louise-Marguerite , an opera singer, and Georges Crochon, a doctor. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced on stage, and later cast in the 1957 film The Happy Road...

     as (King) Louis XIII
    Louis XIII of France
    Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...

  • Geraldine Chaplin
    Geraldine Chaplin
    Geraldine Leigh Chaplin is an English-American actress and the daughter of Charlie Chaplin.Chaplin first came to prominence for her Golden Globe-nominated role of Tonya in David Lean's Doctor Zhivago . She received her second Golden Globe nomination for Robert Altman's Nashville...

     as (Queen) Anne of Austria
    Anne of Austria
    Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...

  • Charlton Heston
    Charlton Heston
    Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...

     as Cardinal Richelieu
  • Faye Dunaway
    Faye Dunaway
    Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...

     as Milady de Winter
    Milady de Winter
    Milady Clarick de Winter, often referred to as simply Milady, is a fictional character in the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. She acts as a spy for Cardinal Richelieu and is one of the chief antagonists of the story....

  • Christopher Lee
    Christopher Lee
    Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...

     as the Count De Rochefort
    Comte de Rochefort
    The Comte de Rochefort is a secondary fictional character in Alexandre Dumas' d'Artagnan Romances. He is described as "around forty or forty-five, fair with a scar across his cheek".-In "The Three Musketeers":...

  • Simon Ward
    Simon Ward
    Simon Ward is an English stage and film actor.-Early life:Simon Ward was born in Beckenham, Kent, near London, the son of a car dealer. From an early age he wanted to be an actor. He was educated at Alleyn's School, London, the home of the National Youth Theatre, which he joined at age 13 and...

     as the Duke of Buckingham
    George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
    George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...

  • Raquel Welch
    Raquel Welch
    Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...

     as Constance Bonacieux
  • Spike Milligan
    Spike Milligan
    Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...

     as M. Bonacieux
  • Roy Kinnear
    Roy Kinnear
    Roy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...

    as Planchet

Reception

The movie was met with mostly positive reviews. Vincent Canby of the New York Times had this to say about the film: "Mr. Lester seems almost exclusively concerned with action, preferably comic, and one gets the impression after a while that he and his fencing masters labored too long in choreographing the elaborate duels. They're interesting to watch, though they are without a great deal of spontaneity."

External links

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